Don't dream it's over
by bittersweet88
Summary: Several years have passed and Aria has a new man in her life. But has she truly forgotten Ezra? And what would happen if they met again?
1. Meet the parents

**Aria**

Patrick was frantically searching for a radio station that played some music he liked, while I tried to paint my nails, which turned out to be more difficult than I thought in a moving car.

"Oh come on, that one was good!", I exclaimed in protest, after he skipped a song I really liked.

"There has to be a better one!" he simply stated and nervously fumbled with the buttons of the radio.

"You better watch the street or you'll get us both killed. I don't wanna die with a bad soundtrack, you know?"

He smirked and stopped pressing random buttons, so we were stuck with a song by ABBA.

"Not exactly with that one, either…" I mumbled, but I really didn't care that much as long as he continued to look out of the windshield.

"I'm sorry, Aria", he said, "I'm just a little nervous to introduce you to my parents. The last time I brought someone home, it was a disaster."

"Oh, thanks for the heads-up", I said sarcastically, "You're really making me look forward to this."

"No, they're not that bad! They just weren't used to piercings and tattoos and black lipstick on a girl."

"Who on earth did you bring home?" I asked surprise, because I heard that story for the first time.

"Her name was Natasha Halligan and she was a girl from my high school. We just dated for a few weeks… I don't even know why I wanted her to meet my parents, I guess it was my rebellious phase."

He caught my astounded expression and laughed, "I was sixteen! Didn't you do something stupid as a teenager?"

Yes, I did. I did a lot of stupid things as a teenager and one of the worst and at the same time best things was to date my high school teacher for two whole years. But that was a secret I had kept from Patrick and I didn't know if I was ever going to tell him. Ezra and I had always been a secret and I wanted to keep it that way. It was _my _little secret and no one could take that away from me.

"Yeah, I guess I did", I said vaguely.

"See? Now don't worry, they're gonna love you. You're perfect, you know that!" he brushed a strand of my hair out of my face and leaned over to kiss me.

"Watch the street!" I shouted angrily, but I smiled when he turned his face back to the road and I knew he noticed it.

Patrick and I had been dating for eight months, when the invitation for his grandmother's birthday arrived and there was no good excuse not to attend. For me this meant meeting his parents for the first time or rather meeting a boyfriend's parents for the first time in my whole life. I had never met Ezra's parents for obvious reasons and after he left I didn't have another serious relationship for years. There were some flings, some little crushes, but I had to meet Patrick to be able to fall in love again.  
>So he wasn't the only one that was nervous, I guess I was just better at hiding it.<p>

* * *

><p>It was already getting dark, when we arrived at the mansion. I knew Patrick had a rather wealthy family and with his father being a senator I always figured they would live in a pretty posh space, but I was still left openmouthed when we parked in front of the luxurious building. I suddenly felt so small and ordinary, there was no way I could make a good impression on people who used to live this lifestyle.<p>

"I'm sorry it looks so decadent", Patrick said, noticing my bewilderment, "but we're really not that bad. It's just a big house…"

I just wanted to turn around and drive right back to my little apartment in Boston, but it was clearly too late, as a smiling woman, who apparently had been waiting for us strode down the stairs in front of the pretentious entry.

"Patrick!", she shouted happily and gave my boyfriend a big hug.

"Hi mom", he said, kissing her on the cheek, "this is Aria."

"It's so nice to meet you, Mrs. Braxley!" I wanted to shake her hand, but found myself in another big hug of hers.

"So we finally get to meet the famous Aria! It's about time." She stated and smiled at me, "Let's get you inside, you two must be starving!"

I went back to the trunk to get my bags, but Mrs. Braxley stopped me, "Richard can do that later."

Confused, I looked at Patrick, who mouthed "servant" and took my hand to lead me in, before I could run away.


	2. The whereabouts of Alice King

**EZRA**

"And who can tell me, why the girls decided to commit that crime?", I asked my class, most of them staring at me bored, for it was their last lesson on a Friday afternoon.  
>Charlotte, a shy blonde girl, whom I tried to encourage to be more active in class as her essays were astounding, slowly raised her hand and I happily called her name.<p>

"Because the overall outcome would still be better. If they didn't do it, many people would have suffered, but now it would only be one man, who probably deserved it." She wanted to add something but was interrupted by the ringing bell and the suddenly energetic pupils who couldn't leave the classroom fast enough.

"I expect all of you to finish the last two chapters by next Tuesday and remember we're having a test about it", I shouted to make sure everyone was listening. It wouldn't be the first time someone claimed to not have his homework because "the noise must have drowned your voice".

Exhausted I sat down on my desk. This had been a long week, with parent-teacher conferences, a lot of tests and the ordinary distracted pupils, but I was glad I taught high school again.  
>After teaching college for six years I was longing for a change. All these hard-bitten students who thought of themselves as beyond wise and educated and were obsessed with partying had somehow started to annoy me and although I knew teenagers could be a pain in the ass, I missed the enthusiasm they occasionally showed.<br>I had been back at high school for three month now but I already felt more alive than I had in several years. I even started writing again which I had given up, the day I left Rosewood.

I looked down at the book I held in my hands. "The whereabouts of Alice King" by Chloe Copperfield. Just a few hours ago I had a long talk with a worried mother, who complained about her son having to read a novel that wasn't on the timetable.  
>And she was right. "The whereabouts of Alice King" was hardly an American classic as it came out only three years ago. But it was a novel for young people, which was second to none. It was a mystery book revolving around three girls looking for their missing friend with a thrilling plot, but still beautifully written. It wasn't hard to read, but if you looked closely there were so many metaphors and analogies, some moral aspects and provocative controversies, I considered it one of the best books for teenagers I had ever read. As if to back me up, it had been pretty successful, there had already been a sequel and there were rumors about a film adaptation.<br>So I had decided to read "The whereabouts of Alice King" with my Freshmen, before we would immerge into the world of classic literature. And as far as I knew it had been a great idea, because I had never had the feeling before that basically all of my students did actually read the novel I told them to.  
>To be honest there was also another reason that magically attracted me to the Whereabout-novels: it reminded me a lot of my time in Rosewood and the murder case of Alison DeLaurentis, a good friend of my then girlfriend Aria. But I quickly pushed that thought aside. It had been seven years, I had to stop thinking about her.<p> 


	3. A room full of strangers

**Aria**

Besides the enormous dimensions of the house and the two servants I could make out during dinner, it wasn't really that bad. Patrick's mother turned out to be a really nice and down-to-earth woman, not the snobbish person I had been scared of. Mr. Braxley was pretty silent during the meal, but he had just returned from work and seemed a little absentminded. Nonetheless he made a quite friendly impression the few times he joined in on the conversation.

"I told you, they're nice", Patrick said to me satisfied, when we were alone in our room.

"Thank god you were right", I sighed relieved. I still had to meet his sister, brother in law and not to forget his grandmother, but judging his parents there was hope that this could indeed become a nice weekend.

* * *

><p>After sleeping in, a nice long breakfast and a walk around the neighborhood, where Patrick told me about his childhood, there was almost no time left to get ready for the big birthday party. Fortunately I had already decided at home what to wear and so I only had to do my hair, put on some make-up and was ready to go.<br>We were planning on arriving early, but nevertheless there were already plenty of guests filling the impressive location, where the celebration took place.

"Let's go find Grandma", Patrick said and we began to search the room. It took us a while but then he noticed her greeting some newcomers in the hallway.

"Theodore!", she exclaimed happily, when she noticed us.

"She likes to call me by my second name, she doesn't like my first one", he whispered into my ear, before he embraced her heartily and then put his arm around my waist.

"Grandma, this is my girlfriend, Aria Montgomery."

Mrs. Braxley gave me a long scrutinizing look, which developed to a smile, right when I was about to start worrying.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, dear", she said, shaking my hand.

"My pleasure", I mumbled, not exactly sure about the introduction ritual of rich people.

"I don't see any reason why you hid her that long from us", Mrs. Braxley said reproachful to Patrick, who just stood there smiling.

One of the waiters approached us and smiled apologetic at her, "Excuse me Madam, may I steal you for a minute?

"Fine", Mrs. Braxley said irritated, "If you don't do everything by yourself…", and followed the intimidated man.

* * *

><p>During the next hour I was introduced to a dozens of uncles, aunts, distant cousins, friends of the family and friends of the distant cousins and I was one hundred percent sure that I wouldn't remember a single name or face the next day. But everyone seemed to be rather friendly and with Patrick by my side I was having a good time.<p>

After a while Mrs. Braxley gave a little speech and declared the buffet open. Pretty fast a long line of people formed in front of the delicacies from all over the world and we decided to wait a little longer.

"I might just use the opportunity and go to the bathroom", Patrick decided, "I'll be back in a second", he gave me a quick kiss and disappeared into the crowd.

There I stood alone in a room full of people, randomly smiling at strangers who passed me by, when I heard a voice from behind.

"Miss Montgomery", I turned around and Mrs. Braxley was standing in front of me, "I'm sorry we didn't get the chance to talk yet."

"Don't worry, I believe there are plenty of guests you want to talk to… this is quite a big party", I answered.

"Yes it is. And all my children and grandchildren despise it", she said smiling.

"I'm sure they don't", I claimed although I remembered Patrick's father complaining about "another one of those parties".

"When you reach my age you don't celebrate getting older or having another milestone birthday. You celebrate that you're still alive and I like to do that every year!" she raised her glass to me as if she was toasting herself.

"Now tell me do you have any sisters or girlfriends we might set up with Alexander, my last single grandson?"

"Actually I do have some nice girlfriends", I answered especially thinking of Hanna, who just came out of a short relationship and was once again left heartbroken.

"This is fabulous news! Why don't I introduce you to each other and you somehow bring it up as if it was your own idea? I saw him just a moment ago", she took my arm and headed towards the buffet, where we halted behind the back of a dark haired man.

"Alexander, I want you to meet someone", Mrs. Braxley stated vigorously.

"Please don't call me Alexander", the man said laughing, while turning around, "My real name is Ezra."


	4. Facing the past

**Thanks for the first reviews. You keep me going!**

**Aria**

_"My real name is Ezra"_

I felt my smile fade, but I couldn't do anything about it. Over the years I had often feared or sometimes even secretly hoped to run into him, but at this occasion he was one of the few people I had never expected to meet. Yet there he was. Right in front of me. We hadn't seen each other for what… seven years? And still it felt like it was only yesterday he broke my heart.

"Umm… hi, nice to meet you", I said, suddenly remembering that we were right in the middle of a fancy celebration. He kept looking at me in disbelief while we shook hands.

"Oh, the Joneses! Why don't you two get acquainted?" Mrs. Braxley shouted and rushed away.

Ezra kept looking at me, remaining silent. Then finally he said something: "Alexander is my second name, my grandma…"

"…doesn't like the first one?", I finished his sentence and we went back to not saying anything.

"So, you're rich?" was the only thing I could think of asking. Over the years I had often feared or sometimes even secretly hoped to run into him, but at this occasion he was one of the few people I had never expected to see.

"Not exactly."

"But your family is?"

"Well actually my grandmother is as you may have noticed by now. But my mother was like the black sheep of the family… she married way below her class."

"And so she was expelled from the family?"

"No, of course not. But she is half Braxley and the Braxleys are very proud. She never took a cent of my grandmother's money. She did pay for my college though. I suppose mainly to force me to attend this ridiculous festivities once a year."

I shook my head. Not because I didn't believe him, but because of the mere fact, that we were standing here, talking like old acquaintances.

"I can't believe I didn't know that."

"This isn't exactly a part of me I like to show off. The privileged grandson… that's not who I am. And since you weren't supposed to ever meet my family, I guess I just kind of forgot to mention it."

He seemed so cold and pragmatic, this wasn't the friendly and funny Ezra I knew. But who was I to think he hadn't changed in all those years?

"Now that we've discussed my familial situation… What could you possibly have to do at my grandmother's birthday?"

"Ezra!" a well known voice shouted from behind before I could answer and Patrick appeared out of the crowd and walked over to us, "I see, you've met my girlfriend?"

Ezra's eyes widened for a moment, "Yeah, I guess I did."

"So, how have you been, _Alexander_?" Patrick asked mockingly.

"Sorry, I gotta go… I have this thing to do…", Ezra babbled, not responding to the joke, "Talk to you later, ok?"

And like that he walked away.

**Ezra**

I sat on the stairs in front of the exorbitant fancy building my grandmother had booked for her party staring into the summer night.

The pain I thought had long ago gone, had come back and hit me harder then I would have ever imagined. I had just walked into the girl I so desperately tried to forget and on the same time knew I wanted to hold on to, only to find out she was my cousin's girlfriend.  
>Someone had told me that Patrick would bring his girlfriend, they even told me her name was Aria. Of course I thought of <em>my <em>Aria, when I heard her name, but after I had left her it seemed as if everyone was called Aria. The name of every girl in every book I read was Aria, or if it wasn't then it was the author's name. A few weeks after I had been back to New York, my grandmother took me to the opera and couldn't stop talking about the beautiful Aria in the first act. Some days later I found out there was a new shop at the corner of my street called "Aria's flowers"… It felt like the whole world was mocking me and so when I heard the name of Patrick's new girlfriend I was convinced it was just life laughing at me one more time and I thought to myself that there had to be more than one Aria on this planet. Apparently there wasn't.  
>Overwhelmed by seeing her, my brain went surprisingly empty, so I couldn't figure out why she was here, until Patrick shove it in my face.<p>

"Ezra?" she stood in front of the door, her strapless black dress and her hair shining in the dimly light from inside, looking more beautiful than ever.

"Aria, hi", I said, giving her a tiny smile, "I'm sorry I took off that way… I just…"

"Don't apologize", she said, striding towards me, but she didn't smile back, "Just tell me one thing… Why did you leave me?"

She looked at me with her big brown eyes and it was then that I noticed how much she had changed. She was still the beautiful Aria I had known, but while she always had been very mature, there had also been that teenage girl inside of her, insecure and innocent. That girl had been gone and all that was left was a grown-up woman, more stunning then ever. I had missed her every moment of the past seven years, but this was by far the hardest one, although she was standing right in front me.  
>I opened my mouth, but I didn't know what to say.<p>

"I thought you loved me!" Aria blurtet out, "Things were finally going well between us... We even decided to tell my parents… and then during this night, the worst night of my entire life, I call you and beg you to come to the police station and you just decide to disappear forever? I've never been so scared… I needed you", her voice began to crack.

"But I came!", I shouted angrily and everything came back to me. How I walked into the police station and ran into Aria's mother. How she thought I was in love with one of the other girls and gave me one chance to walk away – forever.

* * *

><p>"It's not Spencer", I said and I would never forget the look in her eyes when she realized that she had been wrong all along.<p>

"You're going to jail for this!", she told me with the coldest stare someone had ever given me.

"I don't care anymore! I love her and I just want to be there for her!"

"By ruining her life?" she had raised her voice and the rest of the parents were staring at us, so she kept on whispering again, "Ezra, I don't care what you think you feel for my daughter, but have you ever considered for only a second what might be best for her? She's currently looking for colleges, she's applying for scholarships… and yet you walk in here to officially declare your love for your former student? I don't know where you're going with this, but this is incredibly selfish of you. If this", she gestured around the station, "won't destroy her chances of having a well-deserved future, you definitely will!"

I was speechless. I had always thought that this was the right thing to do, that it was my cowardliness and the fear for my own career that stopped me from officially being with her. It had never occurred to me, that I was jeopardizing her future, too.

"Listen to me", Ella insisted, "There is only one right thing to do and that is for you to leave her alone, to leave all of us alone forever. We have so much bigger problems going on here, she doesn't deserve this one, too", she looked at me disgusted. "If you really loved her, you wouldn't do that to her. You'd give her that one chance to live a normal life again, a life she deserves!" she had finished her speech, but was still looking at me, watching every nervous twitch of my face, watching how I didn't know what to do with my sweaty hands, watching how I slowly turned around and left the station. Forever.

* * *

><p>I had finished telling my story poor rather than well and looked at Aria. A tear ran down her cheek.<p>

"You should have stayed" she whispered, got up and rushed up the stairs, back inside.


	5. After the party

**Aria**

Back inside I didn't really know where to go. I noticed some people staring at me and I realized tears were running down my face, so I rushed to the bathroom. After locking myself in one of the cabins, I sat down, trying to calm down.  
>Finally I had the answer to a question, which had haunted me for years. He hadn't just left me without a reason, my own mother drove him away. On one hand I could understand why he left, my mother had always had a great gift of convincing people and my father had barely stood a chance to win any argument at home. But on the other hand he just had to know better. That no scholarship would be as important to me as he was and that I had chosen him over everything else a long time ago.<br>In the past years I had thought that some clarity would help me find closure, but at the moment I was just a mess.

After a while I stopped crying at last and left the cabin. Fortunately I had some mascara and concealer in my purse and I tried to cover up the remains of my emotional breakdown.  
>I suddenly remembered Patrick, who had to be wondering where I was. No one had to use the bathroom for half an hour. Thinking of my boyfriend eventually calmed me down a little bit. It didn't matter what happened in the past, with Patrick I was finally happy again! I was thankful to finally know what happened all these years ago, but in the end nothing changed. Ezra and I had met under the worst possible circumstances and it was no wonder we didn't work out, but Patrick and I still had a chance and I had to focus on the future rather than on the past.<p>

I found him in the lobby where he apparently had been looking for me.

"Aria, are you alright?" he asked worried.

"I'm sorry, I don't feel that well. I think I might get sick."

"I'm so sorry, should we drive home?"

"I really don't wanna ruin your evening…" I said, although I desperately wanted to leave.

"If you feel sick, we're not staying, just wait here for a second while I grab our coats!" he said in a commanding tone and I was thankful that he cared so much for me. Patrick was a guy, a girl could only hope for.

* * *

><p>When I woke up the next morning, I already felt a little better. There was a brunch that day with Patrick's grandmother and close family. Patrick asked me if I wanted to stay behind, but I declined. I knew Ezra would be there, too, but if I wanted to be with Patrick I couldn't just skip every family event in our future. At least this time I was prepared.<p>

The brunch took place at another elegant restaurant on the Upper East Side and we were among the last guests to arrive. It was a table of roughly twenty people, most of them I recognized from the party although I couldn't remember most of their names. We sat down besides a man in his sixties who introduced himself as Uncle Greg and seemed to be a funny and loveable man. I carefully scanned the room for Ezra, but he was nowhere to be seen, however all the seats were taken.

"I can't remember anyone", I whispered into Patrick's ear, hoping no one else could hear me.

Warily he pointed at the people around the table and told me their names and stories again.

"And this is my aunt Elizabeth", he said and gestured towards the woman who sat right across the table.

His aunt had overheard our conversation and smiled at me, "Hi, nice to meet you."

The moment she smiled at me I immediately recognized her. She had the exact same smile I had fallen in love with so long ago.

"She's the mother of Benjamin", Patrick kept talking and pointed at young man sitting at the other end of the table, "and Ezra." Confused he looked back and forth and then addressed his aunt, "Beth, where is Ezra?"

"Oh, he felt sick. He says it were the prawns. I think he might have had a drink too much", she laughed and winked at us.

I knew I should have felt relieved, knowing he wasn't going to come. But the truth was I felt deeply disappointed.

* * *

><p>After brunch, we said goodbye to everyone and drove back to Boston, where things soon returned back to normal.<p>

I stayed mad at my mother for a while. Not only had she driven away the man I loved, but she had also never mentioned that she knew about him and me. I remembered the time as if it was yesterday. I had been seventeen, charged with murder and my boyfriend had just left me for no reason – and I had no one to talk to. During the following investigation I didn't really have a chance to talk to the other girls and so I had to deal with my grief all by myself. Not one single time did my mother ask me how I was doing, I could have sworn that she had no clue.  
>I dialed my parents' number a few times, ready to scream at her, to tell her how much she had hurt me and to blame her for all my misery. But I hung up before anybody could answer the phone every time. Truth was, although I despised her for sending Ezra away, I could still understand her. I somehow knew that she thought this was the best for me and for everyone of us.<br>My anger slowly faded after a few weeks and eventually disappeared.

Patrick remained the perfect boyfriend he had always been. One evening we had watched a movie at his place and lay cuddling on his couch. It was the first evening I felt truly happy again. In the end meeting Ezra had given me some closure and thinking about the difficult times that lay behind me, I was more thankful than ever to live the life I did now. I had nothing to hide, no one was blackmailing me and I had the most caring boyfriend. What else could a girl hope for?  
>Patrick's phone, which lay on the table at the other side of the room, rang and interrupted my thoughts.<p>

"I should get that", he sighed and couldn't get up, because I was pretty much lying on top of him.

"Don't", I begged.

"It's nearly midnight, it could be important."

"Or it could be your drunk friend Larry, asking you to pick him up again."

"Well in that case, I have to answer it, I can't let him sleep in a bus shelter, two weekends in a row", he laughed and gently pushed me aside.

Grumpily I hugged the nearest pillow to endure the time without him, when I realized the shocked expression on Patrick's face. He just stared right through me for a while, until he finally said:

"We have to go to the hospital!"


	6. An encounter at night

**Ezra**

I was about to head home when they arrived. Patrick rushing forward, Aria slowing down at the sight of me.

"How is she?", he asked still several feet away from me.

"Calm down buddy, she's going to be fine."

"She is?"

"Yeah, it turned out to be a minor stroke. But they expect her to fully recover. They are keeping her here for a few days though. Just to make sure she's ok."

"Where is she? And where is everybody else?" confused he looked around the hospital floor.

"She asleep. And the others went home, after it was clear that she was going to be alright", I caught the disapproval in Patrick's eyes, "It's five o'clock in the morning, your parents have been here for hours! You just missed them. Didn't they call you?"

"They probably did, but we left in such a hurry that we forgot his phone", Aria informed me, who had caught up with us.

"You remember Aria?", Patrick asked.

"Um… yeah, I think I do", I said shaking her hand, feeling like an idiot.

"We met briefly at the party", she added. Clearly she hadn't told him anything about us.

Patrick rubbed his temples, "I really need some coffee now, anybody else?"

We both shook our heads.

"Well, I'll be right back then", he said and walked down the hall, away from us.

I sat down on one of the chairs again, Aria followed my example, carefully letting one chair empty between us. We both stared at the wall in front of us, where a poster I had already been looking at for the last few hours informed us how to perform the Heimlich maneuver.

"I'm glad your grandma is going to be fine", she broke the silence.

"Yeah, me too."

"Patrick was really scared."

"They've always been very close."

Aria nodded but didn't respond.

"So how have you been?" I asked.

"Pretty good", she said and gave me a little smile, "I'm a teacher now, too"

"You are? Where?"

"At an Elementary school"

"Elementary? Really?"

"I know what you think, but I've always liked children and it's quite fun actually."

"I wasn't judging", I quickly told her.

"It also gives me a lot of time to write, which is great."

"What do you write?"

"Books for young people, nothing special, not a life-changing novel…"

"Aria that's great! I only wrote a couple of short stories and never even finished a whole book and you've written _a few_! That's amazing! You don't have to be a Chloe Copperfield to be proud of yourself!"

Aria looked at me surprised and let out a little laugh.

"I _am_ Chloe Copperfield!"

"What?" now she caught me off guard.

"After I wrote the first one, I felt so self-conscious… somehow I was convinced people would laugh at me for writing such a stupid book and I decided to use an alias. Then it became successful and I was stuck with the name"

"Wow", I felt so unimportant sitting next to her, being the same old me, who taught at some high school and wrote meaningless short stories, while she had conquered the world.

She gave me one of her heart-warming smiles, "What have you been up to lately?"

"Missing you", I though.

"Same old stuff", I said.

She didn't respond and we sat there in silence.

"I should probably look for Patrick", she mumbled after a while and got up.

"I'll be waiting here", I said, sensing she wanted to get away from me, "it was really nice to meet you again." Boy, did we sound formal.

She didn't say anything just smiled and then walked down the hall.

"Aria!" I shouted and she turned around again. I wanted to tell her that I was sorry, that I missed her and that I had never stopped loving her. "I'm glad you're doing so well", I said instead.

"Thank you", she smiled again proudly, but there was a glimpse of sadness. Then she walked around the corner and was gone.


	7. Walking home

**I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I was hoping to write a lot during the Christmas holidays, but had a rather stressful time. So today I apologize with a chapter I like a lot, I hope you do, too. Enjoy!**

**Aria**

I found Patrick in the deserted cafeteria, sipping on his coffee and staring out of the window into the dark. He must have heard me, because he turned around when I approached him.

"Aria! I'm sorry!" he looked at me as if he had completely forgotten about my existence.

"Don't be", I knew this had been hard on him. He had been pretty flustered during the car ride and I had to drive most of the way, because I was worried about his driving skills.

"I just needed a moment…" he got up and brushed a strand of hair out of my face, "Thank you for being here."

"I don't mind", I said, giving him a warm smile.

"Let's get back", he said taking my hand and leading the way back to the hospital floor.

Ezra was still sitting where I left him, looking up as we turned around the corner. His face remained motionless and I couldn't read what he was thinking.

"There you are", he cleared his throat, "I might as well head home, the nurse just told me they stuffed her with pain killers and it's highly unlikely she's going to wake up any time soon."

"I think I'd like to stay. I'm pretty messed-up… maybe I can calm down a little waiting for her to wake up", Patrick thought out loud.

"Yeah, we can stay if you want to", I said. Honestly I was dead tired, but this wasn't the right time to call the tune.

"No, you don't have to stay! I know you're tired, why don't you head to my parents and catch up on some sleep?"

"Patrick, I don't want to leave you alone. I'm fine!"

"Aria, you really don't have to stay for me. I don't feel like talking anyway."

"You sure?"

"Leave already!" he smiled and gave me a kiss, which felt a little awkward standing next to Ezra who had remained quiet and watched our conversation.

"Alright", I rummaged my cell phone out of my purse "I'm going to call a cab."

"Maybe Ezra can take you home? He's leaving anyway."

Ezra looked at us alarmed. He clearly hadn't expected this suggestion.

"Don't go to too much trouble! I'll just take a cab!" I quickly responded.

"No, I don't want you to have to drive around New York at night alone! It's no problem for you, is it, Ezra?"

"Um… no, no it's not."

"Great, that's a relief", he said already handing me the keys, "See you in the morning!"

Ezra looked at me beaten and then led the way.

* * *

><p>"So where's your car?", I asked when we got outside and crossed the parking lot.<p>

"I don't have one", he simply stated.

"What happened to the Toyota?"

"I sold it. No one needs a car in New York."

"So how are we supposed to get back?"

"Well I took the subway to get here, but since the Braxleys live only a few blocks away I would suggest walking. It's a warm night anyway."

He was right. It had been surprisingly warm for early September and although it was still night I didn't freeze at all.  
>Ezra was walking pretty fast and I had trouble keeping up with him. But I had no choice, as he was the only one who knew the way.<p>

"How long have you been in New York?" I asked, because I figured running next to him for a few blocks might go by faster if we talked to each other.

"Approximately seven years", he answered shortly.

"And where do you live?" I wasn't giving up so fast.

"In Brooklyn."

"Do you have a big apartment?"

He shook his head, "No, I guess it's not what one might call 'big'. 'Tiny' would be more accurate. But it's big enough for Pete and I", his façade began to crumble.

"Pete is your roommate?"

"No, Pete is my goldfish", he laughed, "I also have a yucca plant. Her name is Audrey and I think she's dying."

And there he was. _My _Ezra. The talkative one. The one who made jokes and had the most boyish smile I had ever laid eyes on. The one I still missed sometimes, although it had been seven years.

"I'm going to be a terrible father some day", he kept on talking, "how am I supposed to care for a child, when I'm not even able to keep a plant alive?"

"Well, first of all children make a lot of noise when they're hungry. That might be a game changer."

"That makes me even more scared for Pete! I tried talking to him, but he doesn't say a word!"

We both laughed and I got this warm fuzzy feeling inside, I hadn't felt in a while.

"What are the other girls doing?" he continued the conversation, "Spencer, Emily and the blonde one?"

I had to smirk a little, he had always forgotten Hanna's name. Even in class.

"They're doing great. Spencer is attending Medical School and she's the same eager beaver she's always been, always on top of her class. Emily is also a teacher and just got married to her girlfriend this spring and the blonde one writes for a fashion magazine and is currently in Japan."

"Wow, a lot has changed in a few years", Ezra thought out loud.

And he was right. It seemed like yesterday the girls and I sat at the police station being questioned about the murder of our friend. A time followed when I didn't think we would ever be happy again. And yet all of us recovered fast from what happened. After they arrested the real murderer and found 'A', things got back to normal really quick and soon we were all confronted with the typical teenage problems again.  
>We graduated high school together and went separate ways after that. Emily, Spencer and I attending different colleges, Hanna doing an internship in San Francisco. But through the mutual experiences we had undergone, we had grown so close that we stayed in pretty good contact. I saw Emily a lot, she was the one who didn't live that far away and talked to Hanna on the phone all the time, when she wasn't overseas. Spencer was always busy with medical school, so I didn't get to see a lot of her, but she wrote emails filling pages informing us about every detail of her life every once in a while when she had a few minutes of spare time.<p>

Although it was already dawning it felt colder than before and I shivered. I didn't say anything, but Ezra had noticed it and offered me his jacket. I was afraid it might look stupid if I declined and kept shivering, so I thankfully accepted. As he laid it gently on my shoulders I got goose bumps, mainly from his familiar smell. I suddenly remembered our first kiss as if it was yesterday. Both of us hardly knowing each other, passionately kissing in the restroom of a bar. Even back then I had been surprised about myself, because I wasn't the girl who usually made out with strangers. But somehow it felt right at that moment. And I remembered how his scent had made me lose my mind. Apparently nothing had changed since then.

As we walked on he finally began to open up. And once he had started, he talked like a waterfall. He told me how he had taught college for years and became fed up with it. How he started teaching High School again and was happy to do so. How he felt satisfied with his job, but sometimes worried if he hadn't achieved as much as he should have.

I didn't realize time had flown by and was surprised when Ezra came to a sudden stop in front of the Braxley's mansion.

"So, there we are", he said, once again giving me his heartwarming smile.

"Well… thank you for escorting me", I smiled back at him, "I had a great time."

"So did I."

He looked at me still smiling. Both of us didn't move. I wasn't sure if to hug him, I felt the urge to, but didn't know if that would be appropriate, so we just stood there grinning at each other like fools.

"Well, good night then", I finally said.

"Good night, Aria", he responded, leaned down and kissed me.

His lips touched mine and my mouth opened willingly as his tongue slid inside. His hands held my waist and pressed my body against his, while my arms wrapped themselves around his neck. I couldn't tell how long we stood there, clinging to each other like drowning people.  
>Ezra was the first to let go, stumbling back a few feet.<p>

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have… I don't know why...", he stammered, "I'm so sorry, Aria, please forgive me!"

He turned around and stormed into the dawning day, leaving me standing on the sidewalk, still feeling the warmth of his lips on my skin.


	8. An overdue conversation

**Thank you all for your sweet reviews! They're so motivating to me!**

**Ezra**

"Open up!" I shouted while banging on Hardy's door. Finally I heard steps on the hardwood floor behind it and soon the door swung open and a grumpy face appeared.

"Shut up, dude! The baby is asleep and you know that happens only once in a blue moon", he growled right before I heard a cry from the back of his apartment.

"Great", he rolled his eyes and rushed towards the source of the noise, leaving the door open for me.

I followed him into the living room, where Hardy was holding his daughter in my direction.

"You woke her up, you make her shut up again", he told me and handed me the baby, "and you better hurry, if Jill wakes up, she's going to kill you."

I sat down on the couch carefully cradling the baby who soon stopped crying and looked at me fascinated.

"She's gorgeous", I once again told Hardy.

"Yeah, why don't you take her for a week? Better make it a month, a week won't be enough to catch up on the sleep."

I noticed the big dark circles around his eyes. Having a baby had certainly been hard on Hardy and his wife, but I knew that beyond the tiredness and the sarcasm, he was the happiest I had ever seen him.

"Want some coffee?" he asked and disappeared behind the kitchen counter.

"Yes… No… I don't know." I had serious trouble to think clearly.

"Well, I'm gonna make myself one anyway…", he mumbled while pouring a huge amount of coffee powder into the machine, "So what brings you here at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning?"

"I needed to talk to you!"

"And apparently it couldn't wait?"

I ignored his question and thought about where to start with my story. I hadn't told him about meeting Aria yet, but it was about time I did.

"Do you remember my cousin Patrick?"

"Yeah, nice guy, a little uptight like the rest of your posh family…"

Since Hardy had found out that I had a rich family background back in college, he was mocking me with it. Yet he had always been begging me to take him to every family event I had to attend because he couldn't get enough of the free food and drinks.

"So Patrick has a new girlfriend which he introduced to us on my grandma's big birthday a few weeks ago."

"Where you didn't take me", Hardy cut in and I shot him a look and continued, "And guess what: His girlfriend is Aria!"

"Aria?", he looked at me sleepily not having a clue what I was talking about.

"Come on, Hardy! You remember Aria, the girl I was dating back in Rosewood."

"Oh, _this _Aria! The under aged one!"

"Exactly. The one I couldn't forget."

"Really? After all those years?"

I looked at him annoyed, but realized he was only making fun of me. He had often been the victim of my drunken stories about how Aria was the love of my life and I would never be able to have with someone, what I had with her.

"So you're moping about this girl for years and now she turns out to be your cousin's new girlfriend? What are the chances?" Hardy thought out loudly.

"Well, maybe it's not coincidence. Maybe it's fate!", I pointed out.

"Maybe it's bad luck", he replied.

"Let me tell you the rest of the story. So I spent the whole night at the hospital…"

"Wait, what?" suddenly Hardy was awake and looked at me alarmed.

"Oh, sorry, I should have mentioned that my grandma had a stroke. Nothing too serious. She's gonna be alright."

"Dude, don't scare me like that!" Hardy complained as he got up, poured coffee in two cups and prepared a bottle for his daughter, which he then handed to me.

"I was the last one in the hospital", I continued my story, "and when I was about to head home, Patrick and Aria arrived. He decided to stay although our grandma was asleep and made me take Aria home. So we walked to his parents and talked as if we had never been separated. And when we arrived there and I had to leave, we kissed."

"You kissed?"

"We kissed."

"You kissed her or she kissed you?"

"To be honest I started it, although I wasn't planning to. But she kissed me back!"

"You are so screwed", he said shaking his head in disbelief and I was painfully taken back to that day in the bar, when he had met Aria for the first and only time and told me the exact same thing. Back then it had turned out to be true.

"It's different this time", I tried to convince him, "There is no school, there are no parents, no laws against us. This time I only have to win her love back and we could finally stand a chance."

"If that's so easy…" Hardy said sarcastically.

"I have to at least try", I handed him his now sleeping baby back and headed towards the entry. I had to make a plan. A plan to win her back, "Thanks for listening!"

"Anytime, Ezra, anytime…", I heard him grumbling while I closed the door behind me.

Hardy was right. It wouldn't be easy to win Aria's love back. Maybe impossible. But she had kissed me back and I knew I had a chance. She was the love of my life and I was going to fight for her.


	9. A sleepless night

**Only one more day until we find out who 'A' is. What's your guess?  
>To shorten the waiting time here is another (unfortunately short) chapter for you. The next one will come very soon.<strong>

**Aria**

Needless to say it was impossible for me to fall asleep. I lay on the bed in Patrick's old room, staring at the ceiling and trying to arrange my thoughts.

So I had kissed Ezra. There was no way of denying this. It had been his initiative, but I didn't stop him. I didn't even realize what we were doing until he ended the kiss. It just felt so familiar, so normal to me. I had never forgotten what a great kisser Ezra was. I just didn't remember that it was _that_ good.  
>Did this mean he still had feelings for me? And if it did, would it change anything?<br>My head was spinning and I couldn't find answers to any of these questions.

Birds began to chirp as the sun rose outside and I started to feel hungry, but I wanted to avoid running into Patrick's parents, therefore I didn't dare to get up and wander through the house. So I continued to stare at the ceiling until I finally fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>"Aria?"<p>

It was Patrick's voice that woke me up again. Startled I looked at him, having difficulties to remember where I was.

"Hey sleepyhead, it's almost three o'clock", he said handing me a big cup of coffee, which was exactly what I needed. Sometimes I realized that almost nobody knew me as well as he did.

"How's your grandma?" I asked carefully taking a sip.

"Pretty good actually. She woke up a few hours ago and is already bossing around all the nurses. They said she has to stay another night, but my guess is they don't keep her a second longer than they have to", he laughed and leaned in to kiss me.

"Morning Breath", I muttered under my breath as I turned away. It felt just plain wrong to kiss Patrick only hours after I had kissed his cousin.

Apparently he didn't wonder about my reaction, because he smiled while brushing my hair out of my face.

"And how are you?"

"Exhausted", I said, because although I had slept for hours, the recent experiences had made quite an impact one.

"So what's your attitude towards spending the whole day in bed watching old movies?"

"Perfect", I said, faking a smile.

* * *

><p>"We'll always have Paris", Humphrey Bogart said to Ingrid Bergman standing on the runway and tears started running down my face. I had watched Casablanca over and over again, but this scene had me crying every time. This one sentence seemed like the pure definition of true love to me when I was younger, and it still did today. At the same time it made me incredibly sad.<br>The credits began to roll and I dried my eyes with the sleeve of my sweater.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked Patrick who had been extremely absentminded during the end of the movie.

"There's something I have to tell you." He said, got up and began to pace up and down the room

Confused I sat up.

"You know how much I care about my grandmother… The very idea of losing her feels terrible!"

"I know! I'm so glad she's going to be ok!" I said not understanding what he was trying to tell me.

"Tonight when I sat in the hospital waiting for her to wake up, I had some time to think", he continued, "I thought about how important my grandmother is to me. How important other people are to me. This whole thing… it made me realize how sudden you can lose someone you love. Life is short and we have no guarantee how much longer we or the people we care about have. It made me realize that you are the one person I care about most and that I don't want to spend another day without you." He took a deep breath and got down on one knee, "Aria Montgomery, will you marry me?"


	10. Facing the truth

**I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is still reading and enjoying this story. I recently started my first real job and I'm still trying to juggle working full time and having a social life, so it's hard for me to find some time to write. But I promise that I'm going to finish this story. It is much too important to me to just quit it. So I hope you're still happy about the occasional updates and thanks again for your patience :)**

**Ezra**

I hadn't seen her in weeks. I visited my grandma in the hospital again, but by then they had already left for Boston. When she was released I paid her uncommonly many visits, but it seemed like they either didn't drive down to New York at all or I just missed them.

A few weeks after she was back at home my grandmother decided that she was fit enough to gather the whole family around her again, so she guilt-tripped us into having lunch with her, because who could possibly know how long we would still have the chance to be with her. Normally I would have just accepted the invitation half-heartedly, this time I was beyond happy and excited, because a family event meant that I would most likely get to see Aria.

From time to time it occurred to me, that she was still dating my cousin and I felt bad for wanting to steal her from him. This wasn't me, I never wanted to harm people, let alone a good guy like Patrick. But I knew that Aria and I belonged together and that there must have been a reason why we ran into each other after all these years. I had to be selfish this one time.

* * *

><p>My grandmother had invited us all to a fancy restaurant somewhere on the upper east side and I was one of the first guests to arrive there. I greeted my grandmother and sat down beside my brother and his wife, who - as opposed to me - had always been very punctual people. We chatted a little and he told me about his new job, but I was barely listening, constantly scanning the room for Aria.<p>

And then the door swung open and she entered the restaurant, looking flawless as always. They walked right towards our table, but it seemed like ages to me. I tried to make eye contact with her, but she was looking everywhere but me. When we shook hands she gave me a quick smile, however it ended before I could do anything.  
>Everybody sat down and they took seats at the other end of the table. To say I was disappointed would have been an understatement. I was pretty aware that she wouldn't just ride into the sunset with me, but in my mind she had also been thinking about me and about our kiss all the time.<p>

Aperitifs arrived and my grandmother stood up to say something.

"As you all know I have been in the hospital a few weeks ago and it's only thanks to a great amount of good luck that we're sitting here together today. You may have realized that life is short – I know I did. We all know we have to die someday, but in our hearts we feel like we're immortal. So I once again reminded myself to live every day to the fullest and I am happy that I can spend this day with the people I love. So let's enjoy this day, it may as well be the last time we're all together!"

Grandma had always had a thing for theatrical speeches. We all raised our glasses and toasted her. We started chatting again, when suddenly Patrick got up.

"Since this seems to be a good time for announcements, I have something to say, too." He said and everyone got quiet again.

"Aria and I are getting married!"

* * *

><p>I sat at the table in shock. People kept congratulating Patrick and Aria, hugging them and gushing over her ring, which she had apparently worn the entire time. I still couldn't believe it. Things weren't going according to plan at all.<p>

"Congratulations", I mumbled and patted Patrick's shoulder, because it would look odd if I was the only one who ignored what he had just announced. I shook Aria's hand, but once again she avoided my look. At least now I knew why.

Everyone was sitting down again and some soup was served, but I couldn't eat more than a few spoons. I felt sick to my stomach.

After we had finished the soup, or at least the others did, I got up and went to the restroom. After a few minutes of pacing up and down and sprinkling water to my face over and over again, I realized that I had to get back eventually and left the room, rushing down the hallway, nearly crashing into someone else. I came to a sudden stop and my eyes widened when I realized who it was.

"So I guess congratulations are in order", I said.

"Thank you", Aria answered once again avoiding eye contact.

"I hope he makes you happy", was the only thing I could think of, before I turned away and headed towards the exit. Right before I reached the door, I changed my mind and turned around again.

"How come you didn't tell him about us?"

Now she looked at me with her big hazel eyes, but she didn't say anything.

"If I remember right, honesty was the one thing you valued most in a relationship… so why didn't you tell him?"

"Look, it's not that easy…" she finally said.

"How is it not easy?" I asked enraged.

"I didn't tell anyone about us ever!" she spat out, "When you left I felt terrible, but after a while remembering the time I had spent with you didn't hurt so much anymore. It slowly turned into a happy memory. A memory I cherished a lot. But you were my teacher for heaven's sake! The reason why I didn't tell people is because I didn't want anyone to ruin it. You were my first big love and I wouldn't allow anyone to turn that into something ugly!"

Now I was the one who didn't know what to say. I had never thought about this explanation.

"And then we ran into each other at the birthday party and everything went so fast", she continued, "What was I supposed to do? Tell Patrick 'Those mini quiches are amazing and by the way I dated your cousin while he was my teacher'?"

She sighed, "You're right, I value honesty above everything else and I hate myself for being in this situation. And I know that I should have told him. I just don't know how."

We looked at each other without saying anything. I felt miserable.

"What about us?" I whispered over the silence.

"Us? Ezra, there is no 'us'."

"What about the kiss?"

"YOU kissed ME!", she exclaimed.

"You certainly didn't fight it!"

"You caught me off guard. This doesn't mean that it meant something to me! We didn't work out all these years ago, maybe there's a reason why."

It felt as if someone stabbed a knife right into my heart. I looked her in the eye and realized that it was too late.


End file.
